Support Women Artists Sunday: Haley Bonar

Haley Bonar

Haley Bonar (born 1983, Brandon, Manitoba) is an American alternative country singer-songwriter who hails from South Dakota. She has lived in Duluth and St. Paul, Minnesota. In July 2009, she moved to Portland, Oregon, where she currently resides. She plays guitar and keyboards and typically is backed sparingly, in some instances by only a drummer.

In 2003 Bonar’s album . . . The Size of Planets (Chairkicker’s Union) received favorable reviews in the Minneapolis press. The album spawned the single “Am I Allowed,” which was played on college radio stations.

In 2006 she released the album Lure the Fox,’, originally on Mary Ellen Recordings, whose owner, Mary Lewis, decided to help Bonar pay to record the album at Pachyderm Studio after reading a Star Tribune article about her …

Support Women Artists Sunday: Ximena Sarinana

Simena Sarinana

Ximena Sariñana Rivera (born October 29, 1985) is a Grammy Award and Latin Grammy nominated Mexican singer-songwriter and actress. Sariñana’s musical career was launched in 2008 with the release of her first studio album Mediocre, an adult contemporary pop-rock/vocal jazz album that has been critically acclaimed and nominated for various awards, including two nominations in the Latin Grammy Awards of 2008.

Ximena Sariñana Rivera was born in Guadalajara, Mexico to producer/director Fernando Sariñana and screenwriter Carolina Rivera. She is niece of Mexican actress Angélica Rivera and producer José Alberto Castro, brother of Verónica Castro. When she was 2 years old, Sariñana attended an Ella Fitzgerald concert, claiming to be the beginning of her interest in music and one of her biggest influences. She soon started listening to other …

Support Women Artists Sunday: Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse

How is it that you never really appreciate someone until they’re gone?

When Michael Jackson died, I heard a lot of his music via the radio, and I thought, “We lost such a great talent. I can’t believe I never listened to his music before.” Now Amy Winehouse is dead, and I’m suddenly looking past all her troubles and seeing her soaring voice and strong spirit instead. So, in honor of a woman whose death was tragic and untimely, here’s a biography of Amy Winehouse.

Amy Winehouse was born in Southgate, North London, to Jewish parents. She had a brother, Alex. She would constantly sing in class, much to the annoyance of her teachers. When she was nine, her grandmother suggested that she attend theater school. At ten, …

Support Women Artists Sunday: Nikki & Rich

Nikki & Rich

Nikki & Rich are Nikki Leonti, a California-born pastor’s daughter who grew up singing in church, and Rich Velonskis, a Queens, NY-born established hip-hop/R&B producer and former DJ who got his start spinning in New York City clubs as a teenager. These two seemingly opposite characters first met in 2007. After leaving a successful career as a Gospel artist, Nikki then based in Nashville, worked as a background singer for Carrie Underwood while pursuing a career in singing and songwriting. Rich was in Los Angeles producing tracks for Robin Thicke, Game, TI, Mel-B, Hayes, Vi, Missy Elliot, Mario, Eve and Ludacris, under his moniker Rich Skillz. (A track he produced on Ludacris’ No. 1 album Release Therapy earned Rich a “Best Rap Album” Grammy.) Rich was looking …

Support Women Artists Sunday: tUnE-yArDs

tUnE-yArDs

Experimental Africana beats, electronics, and trumpets? What do these things have in common? They are the playplace of rising indie star tUnE-yArDs
tUnE-yArDs is the music project of New England native Merrill Garbus. When performing live, Garbus creates drum loops on the spot, and layers these with ukulele, voice, and electric bass (played by Nate Brenner).The “w h o k i l l” tour will add a saxophone section.

The first tUnE-yArDs album, BiRd-BrAiNs, was originally self-released by Garbus on recycled cassette tape. It was recorded using only a handheld voice recorder. A limited edition vinyl was released in June 2009, via the Portland-based imprint Marriage Records. In July 2009, it was announced that Tune-Yards had signed to 4AD, and a limited edition pressing of Bird-Brains was released on …

Support Women Artists Sunday: Nellie McKay

These brilliantly satirical lyrics come from the song “Mother of Pearl” by Nellie McKay. As it says on the artist’s website:

“You should know that Nellie McKay is hard to categorize. She’s done Brecht on Broadway, opened for Lou Reed at Carnegie Hall, sung Woody Allen movie songs at the Hollywood Bowl, performed on A Prairie Home Companion, duetted with Eartha Kitt and Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, played Hilary Swank’s sister on the big screen, paid tribute to Doris Day, and released three wildly acclaimed albums of original music.

Support Women Artists Sunday: Chew Lips

Chew Lips are an East London based dance-pop trio, formed in spring of 2008. They consist of singer Tigs (Alicia Huertes), and multi-instrumentalists Will Sanderson and James Watkins.
After forming in early 2008, and writing ten songs in their first rehearsal session, the band played its first gig at a friends’ house party in New Cross on May 10, 2008. After performing fourteen live shows, they were asked by BBC DJ Steve Lamacq to feature on the BBC Introducing stage at the Electric Proms in October 2008. Lamacq has continued to support the band who, to date, have won his Rebel Playlist vote more times than any other act. The name Chew Lips comes from a character in the Brendan Behan book Borstal Boy.

The Donnas were initially considered to be an indie punk band in their early days, often described as “the Ramones meets the Runaways,” but as their music evolved, they become more influenced by hard rock and heavy metal bands including Kiss, Sweet, L7, and Guns n’ Roses. Covers of Judas Priest’s ‘Living After Midnight’ and ‘Too Fast For Love’ by Motley Crue have appeared on past albums.

All four members were born in 1979, and first formed a group together in 1993 called Ragady Anne, while they were in Grade 8. They continued to practise and …